Aubrac and his wife Lucie were among the founding members of the Liberation movement in southern France in 1940 that resisted the Nazi occupation of France.

He was also a close friend of late President Ho Chi Minh. During an official visit to France in 1946 to attend the peace conference at Fontainebleau, the President stayed at Aubrac’s home.

Aubrac visited Vietnam twice in 1955 and 1967 and acted as a messenger to help Vietnam during the resistance war against the United States. He also met with former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim and Pope Paul VI to seek peaceful solutions to the war in Vietnam.

After the war ended, while working for the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, Aubrac persuaded the U.S. government to provide records and maps of the areas along the 17th parallel that divided North and South Vietnam, that had been bombed or mined, to support mine and bomb clearance in the post-war reconstruction period.

At a ceremony held at UNESCO Headquarters in September 2011 to mark the 100th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh leaving Vietnam to advocate for independence, Aubrac recounted his unforgettable memories of his three meetings with the President.

Aubrac was honoured with a number of notable awards from the Vietnamese government, including the Friendship Medal and the Ho Chi Minh Order, for his valuable contributions to Vietnam during the period of national liberation, as well as for his more recent efforts to support national development and defence.